Lawrence Schulman’s talk “Judy Garland – Moments of Magic” at College of the Atlantic is now online

The video of Lawrence Schulman’s July 14, 2011 talk at the College of the Atlantic is now online. It’s embedded below. As some browsers might not render the video properly, here is the link to the video on theCollege’s Vimeo page.

BAR HARBOR — The College of the Atlantic’s Champlain Society will be hosting a talk for its members by music producer and critic Lawrence Schulman on Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 10:30 A.M. on the subject of Judy Garland. To be held in the Deering Common Community Center as part of the first-ever Sherry Geyelin Lunch Series, the talk, entitled “Judy Garland: Moments of Magic,” will aim at highlighting Garland’s film and television career in order to show her importance to classic American popular music. Schulman has produced numerous Garland CDs, including last year’s landmark 4-CD set, Lost Tracks (JSP Records), which included Garland’s long-lost 1935 Decca test records, along with 53 other never previously released tracks from radio and the stage. He lives in Hall Quarry.

Music producer and critic Lawrence Schulman will examine Judy Garland’s life and career in a talk whose purpose will be to answer the question: “If I had just one hour to convince you of Judy Garland’s place in classic American popular music, what film and television performances would I choose?” Instead of taking a birth-to-death historical approach, he will define Garland by descriptive words that he will then apply to specific clips. His goal is to allow the public to experience Garland at her peak.

Lawrence Schulman compiled and wrote the liner notes for the 4-CD box set Judy Garland – Lost Tracks 1929-1959 that was released by JSP Records in 2010, and received coverage on MPBN, BBC Radio 2, France Musique, and in The Wall Street Journal, Playbill, Theatermania, TheJudyRoom.com, Liz Smith’s column, USA Today, The New York Post, The Daily Beast, Parade, Record Collector, The ARSC Journal, RegardEnCoulisse.com, The Ellsworth American, The Mount Desert Islander, and The Bar Harbor Times, among others. The JSP set marked the first time Garland’s long-lost 1935 Decca test records, which are her earliest studio sides recorded at the age of 12, had ever been released. In all, the compilation included 100 tracks from radio, stage and film, all recorded between 1929 and 1959. Fifty-five had never previously been issued. Culled from private collections around the world, the box set covered Garland’s earliest filmed performances with The Gumm Sisters until the more concert-oriented 1950s. France Musique named it among the Best of 2010, and it topped the 2010 best sellers list at Worlds Record. Schulman also produced the 2-CD set Judy Garland: Classiques et inédits: 1929-1956, released by Frémeaux & Associés in 2008; Judy Garland à Paris: Olympia, 28 Octobre 1960, first released by Europe1/RTE in 1994 and re-released by RTE/Europe 1/Laserlight Digital as Judy Garland: Live in Paris in 2005; and Judy Garland: Child of Hollywood – Great Original Performances 1936-1942, first released by CDS Records Limited in 1993 and re-released by Nimbus as Judy Garland: 21 Hollywood Hits in 2000.

He lived in Paris for 27 years, where he was a producer and host on France Musique and France Culture, two stations of Radio France, the French public radio. His programs were the subject of articles in Télérama, Libération and Le Monde. Since 1994, he has written sound recording and book reviews for the ARSC Journal related to classic American popular music. He currently translates for the French website OpusHd.net, which is devoted to classical and jazz SACDs, Blu-ray discs, and DVDs, and has translated from French into English a book on software engineering, as well as many articles on diverse subjects over the years. His course on Judy Garland in 1997 is believed to be the first time she had been studied in an academic environment, and was the subject of an article in The Bar Harbor Times. He was interviewed by MPBN, WABI-TV, and France Culture in connection to his Frémeaux box set, which contained 23 never-before-released Garland tracks. His 2008 multi-media talk, “The Importance of Judy Garland,” in Northeast Harbor, Maine, highlighted the Frémeaux anthology as well as Garland’s entire life and career. In June 2009, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Judy Garland, he collaborated with the movie theater Action Christine in Paris to put together a Garland film festival, and also contributed to a gala benefit at The Palace in Paris. His article, “The Plagued History of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli “Live” at the London Palladium, 1965-2009,” was published in the Fall 2009 ARSC Journal. His most recent book review can be found in the Spring 2011 ARSC Journal. He is currently working for JSP Records on both Judy Garland: Smilin’ Through: The Singles Collection 1936-1947, which will be released in 2011, and the 50th anniversary edition of Judy at Carnegie Hall, which will come out in early 2012.

Born in the Bronx, Lawrence Schulman received his Bachelor of Arts from Stony Brook University and the Sorbonne, and a CERIS degree in film and video studies from CREAR, in Gouvieux, France. He currently lives in Hall Quarry on Mount Desert Island in Maine with his partner, Alain Falasse, with whom he celebrated their 25th anniversary together in 2010.

Comments

WONDERFUL 78 minutes!! Too short…it goes by so quick. Mr. Schulman knows his stuff…I have bought many CD compilations which included his liner notes and always enjoy his knowledge, insight and views on The Greatest Entertainer…EVER! BRAVO!!

Thanks, James. It was an honor to be invited to talk at The College of the Atlantic, and I was deeply moved by the very positive reaction of the people who attended. My goal was to address myself not so much to the fans but more to the lay person who knows a little about Judy and wants to know more. In that sense, everyone who spoke to me after the talk told me how their perspective on Judy had changed as a result, and how much more they appreciated her artistry. This historical approach, as opposed to the entertainment angle, is, in my view, far more effective in underlining the importance of Judy to popular American culture, and not just to “show biz.” I have always taken Judy seriously, and like it or not, that is how I think it best to influence the public. Again, thanks for your kind words.